Europe has a lot of networks and organizations that are affiliated with young people. From the scouts to national youth councils to international organizations based on a political ideology – such as IFLRY. Together, we are all united through a platform called European Youth Forum (YFJ). The YFJ advocates for youth rights in international organizations,…

The Netherlands is often seen as a country in which freedom, tolerance and human rights are celebrated and well-respected. Its citizens generally enjoy a very high level of well-being. But what about the refugees in the Netherlands? Do they benefit from this country’s supposed liberal and progressive values? Can they expect to receive the treatment…

The EU-Turkey deal was celebrated by politicians all around Europe as an example of successful European cooperation on a highly pressing issue. It seems to have been effective in discouraging illegal crossings from Turkey to Greece. But is this really a sustainable solution? And how can European countries share the burden of accommodating the hundreds…

In spring last year, social liberal youth party Jonge Democraten (JD) opened up a pop up shop selling Ecstacy pills, in order to campaign for the legalisation of MDMA. Libel editor Krijn van Eeden interviewed JD president Wouter van Erkel about the Campaign. Just to give us a sense of the situation in the Netherlands:…

Meet Astrid Zwinkels, a 25-year-old Jonge Democraten member, who tries to influence Dutch policy on Prostitution. Not only is her academic career dedicated to this subject, she is also involved in JD’s working group Diversity & Participation. Apart from that she is official secretary of the student council of the University of Amsterdam. DEMO magazine…

David Cameron warned the citizens of Great Britain of following in the footsteps of Norway in the question of a continued membership in the European Union, and the Prime Minister could not have been more right. Today we are witnessing a Norway that has more or less nothing to say in the decision-making in the…

For those of you who haven’t seen this yet: Below you’ll find the video of IFLRY’s 2016 spring general assembly in Istanbul. The video was recorded and edited by Mustafa Aslan of our Turkish member organisation 3H movement.

Indian residential colleges/universities provide food to the hostel students in the mess system. Many such universities of national character, including institutes of law, technology, management and so on, have messes that run on rent-seeking, free-riding and collective/singular coercion forcing surrender of personal liberty. Let us demystify the institutional format of these messes: if you are…

With Dutch journalist Ebru Umar, who was released from arrest by the Turkish authorities yesterday, still being denied her right to leave the country, we decided to subtitle this video by Alvise Pérez. Alvise was attending IFLRY’s General Assembly Istanbul, Turkey, the weekend before last, and decided to make this video then. Sadly, the video…

Liberal Germany is mourning. On the 18th March 2016, it lost not only a former vice-chancellor, but also a remarkable person and politician: Guido Westerwelle. Especially for members of the Junge Liberale (Young Liberals) – the youth organization of the liberal German party FDP – Westerwelle, one of its cofounders, will always remain a role model. …

About Libel

Libel is the news and discussion platform of the International Federation of Liberal Youth (abbreviated as IFLRY): a federation of liberal youth parties and organisations from all over the world. It is a place where we report on activities in the IFLRY network, and where any young liberal willing to do so can debate, raise issues, and present new ideas. We want Libel to be a place where young liberals from all over the world come together to be inspired by each other’s stories, and where they can debate the issues that they consider important.

As a place for discussion, all views expressed in posts are those of the author, and do not represent the views of IFLRY or Libel.